With the recent Photobucket trouble we'll have to ask ourselves what legends of old should be targeted for photo backup? This is a disaster to continuity and it seems we have scarce time to act before the old photos go completely unavailable. As of now, it is possible to right-click pictures under lockdown, choose view image in new tab and copy it from there.

Remember that Imageshack has already robbed us of archive material, and the Photobucket strike is much larger in scope. We risk losing almost everything old which new members have stumbled upon through the years, taking inspiration from old masters.

I know I'll not have much time to contribute with in the coming weeks. I must fix some Golden Hat entries today and maybe tomorrow, but I could help some after that, within limitations. If many of us could help some, it would add up. This is not drudgery which anyone wish to do during the summer, but it is now or never, unless Photobucket come to their senses and change direction completely.

Volunteers?

Can we please gather links to the logs and work of inactive members which we'd particularly like to see saved from the looming disaster? Then we could chew through the threads one at a time and avoid redundant double-work by advancing which thread/member we each pick. An all-out manual trawl of the whole log section could maybe be possible, but it would be true slave labour. Realistically, we should target worthy pictures in particular.

If we can establish a link list, then some volunteers could possibly wade through it to save backup copies on their own computer, to be transferred to some free and currently stable photohosting site such as Imgur. From there, we could re-upload some stuff in big chunks with lots of photos.

Please remember that artwork and concept sketches should be saved along with miniature photos.

Let's take tjub as an example. His stuff is particularly easy to find and save for backup, since he has both a compilation of picture links in his market thread and moreover an index in his monster of an army log. On the other hand, there is a lot of stuff to wade through! But it can be done.

We might wish to target long-since inactive members first and foremost, but this wrecking ball strikes at everyone's Photobucket album, active or inactive.

Attention

Saving your own pictures is quite straightforward and should probably be possible even after the Photobucket changes have been fully implemented (unless the site shuts down completely). However, saving the pictures of others' of long since inactive members is a window that will soon close. If you know of anything specatcular and old you'd rather not be unable to see in the future, then head to that log and grab it.

There is one saving grace before Photobucket goes utterly dark. You can apparently download others' albums, if their privacy lets you see the album:

So some speed is won that way, unless non-Warhammer content is freely mixed with Warhammer content.

Account List

When it comes to salvage the work of others, there is a need to be organized. Please note that Xander and Nicodemus will address this issue as well. Nevertheless, time is of the essence, and we should not refrain from manually salvaging what we can from long-since inactive CDO accounts.

Note that this list for the moment concerns itself with downloaded/saved pictures. Uploading the pictures again is a given goal, but first we need to save the pictures from Photobucket. Mass upload can come after that.

Please note that some accounts are unregistered and thus cannot be linked-to.

Accounts whose images have been salvaged/downloaded by the users themselves are marked in BLUE.

Accounts of inactive members whose images have been salvaged/downloaded by volunteers or the users themselves are marked in GREEN. This is the most important list. The one to keep updated. Please report when you have salvaged an account salvaged to stop double-work!

Accounts whose images have not yet been salvaged are marked in ordinary BLACK. (This list is of less importance and may not be updated frequently or given much attention. Use your own memory, the member search option or look through lists of old logs, conversions and showcase threads to find accounts. In particular, use the "Find threads by this user" option and scan for army blogs, conversions and showcase.)

Accounts whose images could not be salvaged in any way are marked in RED. Effectively lost, not a single image salvaged.

Thank you, Grimbold! Just what's needed! We'll have to get a proper link list up including great CD finds across the web, artwork and all manner of log and showcase sections to wade through.

If someone wants to chip in straight away but is in doubt or lacking a list, just dive in to some favourite inactive log or pick something promising among the earliest army logs of the forum, and pick out the best pictures for storage. Let's see what we can do before the dark gate closes on us forever.

Also, I suppose it could be good if we tried to name the image file after its creator (e.g. "Snotling 01" or "Snotling Ballista 02"), just so it's tagged straight away.

Someone get the chaos dwarf mining complex down if it is still available! And Snotlings stuff!!!

Not to worry. I've backed up all of the Chaos Dwarf mining complex materials to my local drive as part of that operation a while ago, and can easily re-host them elsewhere.

I've also downloaded my Photobucket folder. It is straight forward but the site seemed pretty laggy and it was hanging a lot for me. I probably had to try a dozen times or so before it finally zipped them and showed me the download link.

~N

Nicodemus' adage: "It is not enough to bash in skulls, we must bash in minds!"

This Photobucket stuff is depressing. First GW kills warhammer fantasy...and now this.
Living overseas now, I've been unable to access my Photobucket account without major login difficulties. My account in inundated with pop up adds that makes signing in virtually impossible. And now they're blocking third party hosting. Elfs are responsible!
Luckily I have all my army blog pics saved on various memory cards...but in no particular order

I think I will wait till the storm blows over before I decide what to do.
In the meantime I will post any new (limited) hobby stuff on my Facebook page.

However, there might be some risk of Photobucket becoming overloaded these coming days, or even collapsing if worse come to pass. I am not knowledgeable in these matters of techno-arcana, so please excuse any misjudgement in this assessment.

Some Dakkadakka members have posited speculations as to Photobucket's motives: There exist a suspicion that Photobucket is intentionally making itself impossible to have its users download and migrate before shutting down finally, after grabbing some last money. Whatever the actual reasons, we would do best to seriously consider the possibility that Photobucket may cease to exist in the close future.

And more closer to what we know; the window is closing, and soon we will not be able to access Photobucket images of others at all. Time is of the essence.

First post updated. Volunteers wanted. Please refer to it for lists and report here upon salvaging the images of other, inactive CDO members.

Many of us active members might have backup copies independent of Photobucket, but the inactive members are by definition inactive. No guarantees when or if they'll ever return, and likewise there are no guarantees that they themselves have independent backup files of their Photobucket pictures. If the active members do not salvage what they can from the inactive members, we risk a meltdown of continuity.

Please note that participating in this salvage operation may mean confusion and redundant double-work, particularly when Stage 2 of the Staff's Photobucket Migration to the Darklands roll out. It's all conscious risks to be undertaken for improving our chances of saving CDO's past for the sake of its future.